Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Brazil's Pantanal - 15 Oct (Day 3)

We began Day 3 the way we ended Day 2: with a boat ride on the Rio Claro. This time, we took a one-way cruise to a trailhead that eventually led back to the lodge by foot.

sunrise on the Rio Claro

While on the river we spotted a Caimen randomly positioned in the middle of the river. When we stopped to take a look, the beast saw us and decided to come closer...

and closer...

and closer...

and a little too close...

This curious Caimen came right up to our little flat-bottomed boat and actually bumped it with his snout. Us passengers, slightly intimidated by the boldness of this reptile, really enjoyed the photo ops.

After lunch back at the lodge we packed into the van and began our afternoon drive to Porto Jofre. Along the way we ran into a few nice roadside birds including SCARLET-HEADED BLACKBIRD. We spotted a few MARSH DEER as the habitat became a bit wetter and more lush.

Scarlet-headed Blackbird

Marsh Deer

nesting colony of Crested Oropendolas

We stopped at a former park headquarters to stretch our legs and see what was around. We had nice looks at Yellow-collared Macaws and Blue-fronted Parrots here.

Blue-fronted Parrot

One of the trip participants spotted a mussurana (snake) in the midst of downing a frog:

After observing that cool event, we made the remaining drive to Porto Jofre.

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About Me

Orthopaedic Surgery PA since 2010. When I'm not roaming the halls of a Connecticut hospital, I can be found birding the coast of New Haven County, traveling, catching up on sleep, fishing Long Island Sound, or watching the Mets blow a 5-run lead. And of course an interest in music, movies, and all sorts of stuff. Of all my interests, birding is right there at the top, and is certainly one of the most unique and worthwhile.

What will you find here?

In this space I generally keep a running journal of sightings and photos. In addition, I'll be rambling about various topics, such as: identification, status and distribution, the state of migration, rarities, and weather and its impact on local birding.

Photographs

After years of digiscoping I purchased a dSLR, the Canon 7D, in July 2011 along with the 400mm f5.6 prime lens. I upgraded to the 7D MarkII in September of 2016.All of my shots on this website are taken with either the Canon 7D, 7D MkII or digiscoped with a Canon Powershot unless otherwise noted.ALL PHOTOS are Copyright Nick Bonomo 2008-2018 unless otherwise noted.

Post-processing, when performed, is limited to minor exposure adjustments and sharpening. I sometimes do not have enough free time for this step and will post photos as-is. On several occasions I will not alter a photo if I feel that the change does not make the bird appear as it did in the field, for identification purposes. I currently shoot in jpeg only.